cocktails? yes please!

june also brought us a super fun trip to cabo, courtesy of one of the hub’s biggest clients.  i was pretty excited for this, because not only is this client really generous when it comes to these trips but it’s also always nice to have some nice quality time with the hub.

plus, it’s really easy to get there - unlike hawaii, which is a five-hour plane ride, cabo san lucas is only a couple of hours south.  and we were able to fly out of orange county airport instead of trekking out to LAX, which is always so difficult.

see?  just a couple of hours later, we were enjoying our first cocktail of the weekend at the airport while waiting for the resort shuttle to pick us up.

our home for the weekend was the gorgeous one and only palmilla.  it wasn’t very far from the airport, and once we arrived we were whisked away to the center of the resort for a welcome reception with our hosts.

once we’d checked in, mingled with other attendees and our hosts, and got light snacks and another cocktail, a golf cart appeared to take us to our room.  

pretty sweet, yeah?  it was just as lovely as i’d always heard this place was, and we relaxed for a bit while cooling off in the air conditioned room and watching the waves down below.  and then we decided to change and head down to explore a little - and grab another drink from one of the bars.

we stopped to browse through the gift shop and i was really amused to see a piece of L.A. in there:

a little while later, we changed back into actual clothing to meet up with the group for dinner.  when we checked in, we were handed a cute tote bag and an envelope filled with what looked like monopoly money…only we got to actually spend it at the kiosks that were set up for us by local artisans.  free shopping?  yes, please!

i picked out some souvenirs to take home to the kids, plus a nice picture frame for us to display in the living room and a really nice hand woven hat.  and then - you guessed it - more cocktails!

it really was so beautiful out there.  the setup for dinner was so pretty, and the food was done buffet-style and it was plentiful and delicious.

meanwhile back at home, the bean was celebrating one of their besties at their high school graduation.  her mom sent me this and said she was happily surprised to find my child there knowing that i was out of town.

back in our room, our slippers had been laid out for us, along with this little gift for us on the bed.

the hub had an early wake-up call the next morning and enjoyed these views while golfing with the guys:

while i slept in and then had a little room service brekkie with a different view.

and then i got myself ready and took a little walk, passing hammock hill along the way.  it was way too hot to partake, so i just kept on walking.

i walked right on into the fitness center, where i got a little workout in before heading into the spa for my massage.  not a bad way to spend my day, amirite?

i was super relaxed and happy, and met up with the hub at the pool post-golf.  he’d had a few drinks on the course, so of course i had some work to do.

the last event of the weekend was the white dinner party.  it was just as lovely as everything else we’d already experienced, and a nice way to cap off a great trip.

the next morning, we had just enough time to get packed up, grab a quick breakfast and hop on the shuttle to head back to the airport for our flight home.

oh - and we received one last gift as we left the resort.  this explained the photo they’d taken of us when we’d arrived at the white party.

adios, cabo…till next time.

“may” i offer you another photo dump?

yup.  another recap of an entire month in one post.  because it’s easier, and because not every little bit needs its own post, and also because why not?

we kicked off the month of may with a quickie weekend getaway for me and the hub.  it was work-related for him, and also marked the first time we left the bean home alone for more than a few hours.  the destination was a familiar one - the lodge at torrey pines in la jolla.  yes, the very place where we had another fun weekend almost 20 years ago…when we got engaged.  awwwww.

because we stalled so much, we didn’t get down there till well after midnight.

to be fair, the rooms aren’t really anything special.  but they’re spacious and comfortable and quiet, and in this case…free.  woohoo!

the next morning, the hub had an early wake-up call for his golf game while i got to sleep in and relax and basically just veg out.  i didn’t even have to leave for food - i ordered room service.

and then later that evening, we got dressed up and joined the work group for dinner.

the next morning, we checked out and headed into solana beach for some brunch.

one weekend, the kids and i headed to the fairplex in pomona for the l.a. county fair.

this year, they had a category in the culinary competitions for “working professionals” which i technically qualified for since i sell my cookies for profit.  but i wasn’t really feeling it, and instead submitted a few of my crocheted creations and a couple of bags for consideration.  i was pretty stoked to find that all four of my pieces won ribbons:

and then even more so to find that the hot dog on a stick kiosks had brought back the deep-fried cream cheese on a stick:

as afternoon turned into evening, it cooled off pretty nicely and i ended up snagging a new sweatshirt from one of the official fair merchandise booths.

as always, the bean hit up cathy’s cookies for a bucket of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

and then we stopped to see the farm animals.  there weren’t as many animals this year, i’m not sure why.

and then we went home to our own animals.  they’re always happy to see us (despite teddy’s side eye in this photo).

we celebrated the old lady’s birthday with the traditional “shitty cake mix” strawberry cake:

and presented her with a super fun gift basket full of a bunch of her favorite things.

on mother’s day, the bean set me up with this sweet snacklebox full of all my favorite sweet and savory treats.

and the hub hooked us up with some delicious steaks on the grill.

the old lady and i hit up the ‘land for a fun morning together:

while i struggled with conflicting feelings on him (and the old lady and the bean refused to go see him with me), i went to see justin timberlake on his current tour with one of my barre besties and her husband (more on that later).

the annual l.a. yarn crawl weekend snuck up on me, and i only had time to visit one shop this year.

the bean and i had heard of this “fried chicken ice cream” months ago, but never could bring ourselves to pull the trigger on it.  being in california, the only way we knew of to get our hands on some was by ordering it from goldbelly - and you would get ten pieces shipped directly to your door packed carefully with dry ice to keep it frozen to the tune of $150.  eek.  and so when i came across an instagram post from yama seafood in san gabriel that said they were going to have it in stock on a limited basis, i decided to make the drive out and grab some.

no, it isn’t actually chicken, or even chicken flavored in any way.  this is made of waffle-flavored ice cream with a chocolate pretzel “bone” in the middle, dipped in caramelized white chocolate and rolled in crunchy cornflakes.  and while that all sounds like a lot - it’s amazing.  i loved every bite of it.

the bean and i headed to the wiltern theater to see the “good mythical morning” tour (more on that later too).

and then to close out the month, as crazy as it sounds…the bean finished their sophomore year of high school.

i cannot believe that my child is now a junior.  like…they’re halfway through high school now.  and we’re looking at SAT prep courses and planning college tours and discussing different majors and omg. i cannot.